Kemi Fuentes-George: A Middlebury Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies

The Trouble With “Expert” Advice

So, the following is absolutely true. This summer, I decided I was going to start a vegetable garden in my yard, despite having a dubious gardening ethic, no idea what I was doing, and little to no actual tools. Naturally, I turned to a local expert; a guy who works in agriculture here in Middlebury. (I can’t say his name, or where he works, because it could be embarrassing – suffice it to say, he should really have known better. Let’s call him Zeb).

ME: Yeah, so I was thinking of starting a garden. Maybe a raised bed? How do I do that?

ZEB: Right, so the first thing you need to do, is clear the ground of grass and weeds where you’re planning to put the bed. Mark off the area with some string and stakes, then just soak it with RoundUp.

ME: [stares] Did… did you say RoundUp?

ZEB: Yep! Just soak it all down. Spray it right in there, and it’ll clear all those weeds and grass out for ya. Then, you can put your soil on top of that once they’re all dead, and use that for your vegetable garden. Easy!

Well, I didn’t particularly want my garden to start off with a chemical assault (it was supposed to be organic!), so I, with no great skill or capability, dug up a small plot, put newspaper over what remained,and went from there. But of course, the question remained – what would have happened if I’d used RoundUp in my precious garden?

It turns out (no surprise), that as a herbicide, RoundUp is tremendously tooxic. One of the main issues is that the studies on the safety of glyphosate, RoundUp’s main ingredient, do not take into consideration the effect of combining glyphosate with the other ingredients, and the resulting chemical cocktail. For instance, some studies indicate that the “inert” ingredients magnify glyphosate’s potency such that it can affect natal development and hormone production. Moreover, the term “inert” used to describe ingredients in RoundUp refers only to the fact that they are not usable as herbicides, and is not a pronouncement on ttheir biological impact. Thus, while glyphosate appears to degrade in the soil relatively quickly, the effect of multiple, potentially toxic chemicals creates a higher risk of poisoning “…not with the active ingredient alone,, but with complex and variable mixtures.” Personally, I’d rather nottake the chance. But many people do: RoundUp is the world’s best selling weedkiller, and as long as it remains profitable, it will continue to be produuced for commercial and domestic use.